A senior politician says clarity is still needed over just what happened during a 2010 SAS operation in Afghanistan.
Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating fronted media on Monday and said camera footage of what US helicopters were firing on during SAS raids was among evidence that proved allegations in the book Hit & Run were false.
Journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson have stood by their claims and suggested Keating was doing everything possible to avoid an inquiry as his job would be on the line.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said yesterday's briefing came too late, though he welcomes the head of the Defence Force's willingness for there to be an inquiry.
"Who do you believe? Well that's the real issue here. What you've got to do is sort out what the facts are from the fiction, and we are not in that circumstance now."
Meanwhile, a legal letter has been sent to the Government calling for a full inquiry into the SAS raid in Afghanistan.
It's from law firm McLeod and Associates who're representing Afghani villagers of Naik and Khak Khuday Dad, who claim to have been the target of the raid - a position rejected by the NZDF yesterday.
Lawyer Deborah Manning said information released by the NZDF yesterday reinforces the need for a full and independent inquiry into their actions in relation to Operation Burnham, including what appear to be ongoing attempts to conceal those actions.
"This morning we have now sent off our formal request to the Attorney General and the Prime Minister for an inquiry to begin into Operation Burnham."
In the letter, McLeod and Associates says yesterday's announcements by the NZDF have at best created confusion, and at worst been an attempt to conceal the true nature of its role in the attacks.
Hit & Run claims six civilians were killed and 15 were injured in a 2010 raid by the NZSAS in Baghlan province.
Yesterday, Keating said that during "Operation Burnham" supporting US aircraft targeted insurgents outside a village, and SAS troops on the ground noticed its fire was falling short into a building where civilians may have been present along with insurgents.
"The weapon malfunctioned and some rounds went into that building. There is no confirmation that any casualties occurred, but there may have been."
Keating said nine insurgents were killed. One was shot by an SAS member.
Keating said he would be willing to consider releasing documents and other evidence related to Operation Burnham. He was not opposed to an inquiry, although he questioned the legal grounds for one.
He said NZDF personnel have never been in the villages named in the book as Naik and Khak Khuday Dad. Rather, the area covered in Operation Burnham was about 2km away, and the terrain was completely different to that of the villages at the centre of Hit & Run.
"It seems to me that one of the fundamentals is to tie the alleged perpetrators of a crime to the scene of the crime," Keating said, also rejecting the book's claim the raids were in revenge for the death of soldier Timothy O'Donnell, the first New Zealand combat death in Afghanistan.
"What they could easily do is release the full, uncensored documents like the post-activity reports, the planning documents, the operational plans, battle assessment reports; if they want to release real stuff then we could all look at it.
"Even if they were right that the location of the attack was a couple of kilometres from where we wrote [it was], which I think they are wrong about, it's not the central premise of the book. All the important parts, about the people who were hurt, the motives of going there and the blowing up of buildings, all completely stand. This feels to me very much like a diversion."
Prime Minister Bill English said today there won't be any inquiry into allegations the SAS was possibly involved in war crimes as a result of actions during the raids, but didn't rule out an inquiry or investigation into other claims.
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